Bloemfontein – A bus passenger saw how a fellow passenger’s leg was ripped off and how another lost a hand when an SA Roadlink bus overturned outside Bloemfontein on Wednesday morning.

Volksblad reported that five people died and 25 people were injured, four of them seriously.

The passenger who saw the horrific injuries was taken to hospital along with other injured passengers.

The bus was heading from Cape Town to Johannesburg when it left the road and overturned, possibly because the bus driver had fallen asleep behind the wheel. 

He was one of the seriously injured.

A hospital spokesperson said people were badly traumatised.

An SA Roadlink spokesperson said the bus was less than a week old and had two bus drivers on board. 

Sapa reported on Wednesday that the Road Traffic Management Corporation has launched an investigation into the accident, and that Road Accident Fund officials were helping the families. 

Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele conveyed his condolences to the families of those killed.